Music History, Theory and Ethnomusicology

Gillian Robertson, a native of Ontario Canada, joined the College of Music as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Music Theory in the fall of 2017. She holds a Ph.D. in music theory from Florida State University (2015) where she studied with Drs. Joseph Kraus and Matthew Shaftel. She was the recipient of a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) while completing her M.A. in Music Theory at the University of Western Ontario.

Benjamin Graf is an active scholar in music theory, pedagogy and performance. He defended his dissertation, An Analytical Study of Structural Dualism and Paradox in Beethoven, in February 2016 and earned his Ph.D. in Music Theory from the University of North Texas in May 2016. At UNT, Benjamin was the recipient of a Teaching Fellowship in the College of Music, and he was awarded numerous scholarships, including the Robert W. Ottman Graduate Music Theory Scholarship as well as the Ethelston and Lamarr Chapman Music Theory Scholarship.

Ellen Bakulina is a Russian-Canadian music theorist. With a complex cultural and geographic path, she has degrees in music theory from the College of the Moscow States Tchaikovsky Conservatory (music theory and musicology), the Moscow Conservatory itself (program only), McGill University, Montreal (BMus and MA), and CUNY Graduate Center, New York (PhD 2015). Dr. Bakulina joined the UNT faculty in the fall of 2016.

Vivek Virani’s research explores connections between music and spirituality in diverse religious and cultural traditions, with a particular focus on religious music's role in the constructions of community, nation, and self. His recent dissertation explores how songs of South Asian devotional poet-saints are used to negotiate issues of culture, religion, and society at the regional and national levels. He is currently drafting a book based on this work while pursuing further projects related to bhakti, Sufi, nirgun, and other forms of mystical poetry performance in South Asia.

Poovalur Sriji a prolific composer, performer, educator, an 'A' top grade artist recognized by All India Radio (Indian Government through their Radio network grade the Artiste and "A" Top is the highest ranking), studied South Indian Classical music from his father P.A. Venkataraman. For over four decades Poovalur has performed with the leading artist from both South and North Indian Classical traditions. Since his move to the United States Poovalur has performed and recorded with artists such as Sir Yehudi Menuhin, Bela Fleck, Mark O’ Connor, John Bergamo, Glen Velez to name a few.

Rebecca Geoffroy-Schwinden brings the combined methodologies of history and anthropology to archival work on eighteenth-century music, particularly of the French Revolution. Rebecca’s concern for the politics of musical production seeks to move past the rhetoric of struggle toward a nuanced understanding of the relationships that animate musical labor and expression.